table tennis bat

i play quite a bit of table tennis just at home but i dont have bats that are that good. when i try and do a topspin on a three star ball the effect is not that big. even if the ball is coming quite slow to me and i can get right underneath it. the ball spins but very slightly. i was just wondering if maybe its the bat. can a decent topspin only be done with a decent bat?

thank you, shahjahan from england (14)

Hi Shahjahan,

You do need to have a bat with some grip on it to be able to do a decent topspin.  What type of bat are you using at the moment?

Look for something that has a bit of sponge underneath the rubber and when you run your finger over the rubber it grips.  The rubber should not feel like plastic or glass, it should have a grippy surface.

You don't need to buy a bat for too much money to start with.  A factory made bat will do to start to generate some decent spin.  Later you can move onto a custom made bat.